adam serrano

WASHINGTON – Trips to the White House still offer a player as established as LA Galaxy and U.S. National Team defender Omar Gonzalez the chance to feel the same type of joy that he felt when he strapped on his cleats as a kid in Texas.

“It’s been an amazing experience,” said Gonzalez. “Never did I imagine that I’d be here at the White House so many times for winning championships. It’s something that you don’t even think about it because when you’re young you only want to become a professional athlete. To be a pro athlete and then come to an organization where you have the chance to accomplish such great things, it’s incredible.

“Last year was an incredible year for all of us with all the storylines that were there and this is the culmination of all the hard work. It’s simply a great experience.”

WASHINGTON – Being honored at the White House never gets old for LA Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena.

Arena who has been honored at the White House eight times by three Presidents for his exploits with the University of Virginia, D.C. United, the U.S. National Team, and the LA Galaxy said that this trip like each one that preceded it was a special experience.

“It’s a great experience to be honored by the White House," said Arena who made his first trip to the White House with the Hoos back in 1994 when Bill Clinton was in office. "They’ve all been special experiences and today it was a little unique because we shared the stage with the Kings who are a fantastic team. It was a real special moment for both of our teams. The President was wonderful and the White House was great.”

CARSON, Calif. -- LA Galaxy II learned that they will open up their second season in USL PRO at home, the league announced via Twitter on Saturday.

Los Dos will begin their season on Sunday, March 22 against Real Salt Lake affliate club Real Monarchs at StubHub Center Track and Field Stadium. The Monarchs are one of seven other direct MLS affiliates that will join the league in 2015. After the home opener, Galaxy II will travel to Northern California for a match against Sacramento Republic at Bonney Field on March 28 in a rematch of their semifinal defeat from a year ago.

The complete regular season docket for the 2015 season will be announced on Monday.

CARSON, Calif. -- The LA Galaxy won their second preseason match of 2015 with a 6-1 result over Cal-State Fullerton in a closed-door scrimmage on their training field otuside StubHub Center.

Andre Auras notch a brace in the match with two second half goals while Robbie Keane, Charlie Rugg, Rafael Garcia, and Raul Mendiola each added a goal of their own. The Galaxy also conceded in the second half after Brian Rowe made a stop in the second half, but had a rebound trickle out for a Fullerton goal from close range. LA used a total of 22 players in the match and saw their preseason record move to 2-0-0.

"Our fitness is getting a little bit better, we're getting a little bit better with our ball movement, but we still have a way to go. We're still just basically a week into preseason," Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena told reporters after the match. "I thought the Cal-State Fullerton team played really hard and were a good test for us. They didn't make it easy on us which was good. We had an advantage."

CARSON, Calif. -- Forward Charlie Rugg spent all of 2014 with LA Galaxy II, but as the third-year striker heads into the third year of his professional career, he's looking to carve out a role for the first team.

Rugg earned a start along the left side of midfield during the club's first match of 2015, a closed-door scrimmage against Ventura County Fusion and performed well in helping LA to a 2-0 victory. With the Galaxy lacking depth along the left side of midfield with the departure of Landon Donovan in the offseason and Baggio Husidic's likely move to the center of the park in light of Marcelo Sarvas' trade to Colorado Rapids, Rugg may have a chance to work his way back into Bruce Arena's plans.

"I enjoyed playing there. It's been a couple months since I played and it was good to play," said Rugg. "It takes a little getting used to when you change any position, but I like it and I think that I could get used to it. I think that I can use my speed on the wing. ... I'm ready to help in any way that I can and I like to play whereever I can."

CARSON, Calif. – LA Galaxy II bolstered their attack on Sunday by signing Ariel Lassiter who is the son of former MLS goal scoring legend Roy Lassiter.

The 20-year-old attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2013 where he appeared in 21 games, tallying five goals and four assists. Lassiter’s efforts helped him earn the Big West Conference All-Freshman team. A year later, Lassiter made the move to Sweden with Superettan side GAIS where he made 12 appearances with a single goal.

But before he was succeeding in Europe, Onalfo noticed during his time at Cal Poly that Lassiter had the talent to contribute on not only a USL PRO level, but an MLS level as well.

“He’s a talented attacking player who is very fast. He’s very polished and when I watched him play in college two years ago, he came on as a reserve, and as soon he stepped on the field, I thought ‘whoa who is this kid,’” Onalfo recalled to LA Galaxy Insider. “Soon I realized that he was Roy’s son. You could just see that he has all the physical and technical tools to be a big time player. Now it’s just about teaching him the right way to do it and watching him progress.

“The kid is very talented and it’s going to be exciting project to watch him grow and watch him develop.”

Brek Shea put the U.S. up with an early goal only six minutes into the match, but the Chileans soon equalized as Roberto Gutiérrez scored just four minutes later. New Toronto FC striker Jozy Altidore gave the Americans the lead after 31 minutes to give hope to Jurgen Klinsmann’s side heading into the second half.

The lead did not hold, however, as Mark González found the back of the net in the 66th minute after a flurry of chances for the home side were turned away by USMNT goalkeeper Nick Rimando. After the Chileans brought the score level, Klinsmann opted to insert Zardes to create some offensive punch, but La Roja’s attack proved too strong as they edged ahead on another tally from Gonzalez in the 75th minute.

The U.S. National Team will play their second and final match of their annual January camp on Feb. 8 at StubHub Center.